pilotdave

I'm no instructor and I did AFF, but 2 of my last 3 jumps were IADs, playing student for a couple instructors to get recurrent for the winter. They don't regularly do IAD at my DZ, so this was the first time I've ever even seen an IAD jump. But they had the students sit up front, back to the panel. Then they had us swing our feet out, onto the step. From their position in the back of the door, they could use their foot to actually guide mine onto the step. Once my feet were out, I turned and grabbed the strut and climbed out. I did AFF 1 out of a 182 and I remember that the climbout was the hardest part of the whole thing. This way, starting off facing backwards, seemed a lot easier than trying to step out poised like I would for a normal 182 jump. It was fun, but I'm still glad I did AFF!

Or if the jumper doesn't complete the cutaway. Luckily if the right riser breaks, the collins lanyard will release the left riser so you don't get into a situation like this: http://www.skydivingmovies.com/ver2/pafiledb.php?action=file&id=1575. This particular one wasn't a broken riser. The jumper cut away and pulled his reserve. Only then did he realize that he had only pulled the cutaway cable far enough to release his right riser. But I'm sure this is pretty much what an RSL-side broken riser would look like on any rig without a collins lanyard. Dave

I only know what I was taught to do on my PD 9-cell (similar to a falcon). No idea if it's recommended on a falcon so definitely ask a rigger first (and you probably already know this anyway). I always pulled the entire slider out the nose instead of quartering it between the risers. That helped a bit..openings were brisk but not usually very hard. Since you saved so much money on the rig, you might want to try to sell the main and just buy something else. You could find a used ZP canopy for a good price. I didn't learn what a snivel was until I demoed a sabre2 for my 100th jump. Dave

Here's my 3M, though packed with socks the day I got it... looks better with canopies in it.

If you plan to get an RSL, get the skyhook. It just improves on the RSL. If you don't want an RSL, well, ask yourself why that is, change your mind, and get a skyhook. Waiting to get one later is a huge waste of money. It is far cheaper to get it installed originally than as a retrofit. And if you decide you don't like having an RSL, hook it to your cutaway housing and it won't bother you one bit. Dave

Here's a video of me being picked up and thrown... out the back of a CASA. http://www.skydivingmovies.com/ver2/pafiledb.php?action=file&id=1052 Big people don't get to do that! Dave

Damn, even with a pair and a small woman, that's still gotta be a lot of wingloading. I like this list. I'm taller than everybody on it! Ok so only by an inch but still...it's not often that I'm taller than anybody! Dave

Well, I don't think they'd prevent canopy collapse if you reached that high an angle of attack or that low an airspeed. But I do think that they could in effect raise the L/D ratio at any given "high" angle of attack. Maybe not... maybe the "touchdown speed" of a canopy is too slow for vortex generators to have any effect... definitely a possibility. But if you can reduce separation at any given angle of attack, you reduce drag. I'm definitely not a swooper. But if I did a normal approach and flare, planing out 3 feet off the ground, my canopy will slowly settle down with very little forward speed. If I did the same thing at say 50 feet over the ground and held the full flare, my canopy will eventually stall and fold back and come crashing in. So I'm not talking about preventing it from fully stalling and collapsing. I'm talking about maybe slightly delaying that first situation, allowing the canopy to fly just a little bit slower (and a little bit farther) before it begins to settle downward. The speeds we're talking about are very slow though. I'm not sure vortex generators can be effective down to such low speeds. But who knows, myabe they'd be most effective half way through the swoop, not at the end, reducing drag and allowing the canopy to swoop a little farther anyway. Or maybe they'd create more drag than they'd save. But someone's gonna try it. Dave

I don't think it would have the effect you want. As the canopy slows down at the end of a swoop, there are two ways to maintain enough lift to continue to fly. Either change the camber of the airfoil or increase the angle of attack. Doing either increases drag, slowing the canopy down even more, but possibly allowing it to stay airborne a little longer, until it stalls. Adding weight to the canopy doesn't really change that situation. Decreasing drag, or increasing the lift to drag ratio, is the only way you are going to produce equal lift at lower drag. I'm willing to bet vortex generators will be coming along soon on canopies. Vortex generators can help delay separation as angle of attack increases, basically letting the wing fly at a lower speed (and also decreasing the drag on the wing when flying at a slow speed). Placed properly, I bet they'd help a canopy swoop farther. And I don't see why they couldn't be made out of little folds of stiff fabric. Dave

Wanna trade? Dave

That really sucks, but I LOVE the way you said it. I wish I could talk like that. I got myself one of THESE (47" HDTV). Dave

My car doors were all frozen shut this morning. Thought I was gonna break one of the handles off trying to get in. Roads were terrible... sliding all over the place. My car doesn;t like snow. I haven't gone skiing in about 5 years now too so I really have no reason to like snow. I hate this time of year. Dave

I think that's the rate limiting. After a video got downloaded over 9000 times in one day with no speed restrictions, Matt set up a limit on the server so that it doesn't kill all his bandwidth when a link gets out. I think it's just especially bad right now with so many people downloading a few different big files. I was getting 10x more speed over the weekend. But still nothing like the 1000 kb/s I used to be able to get from work. Dave

Description is all fixed. Thanks for uploading it!! One more link: http://www.skydivingmovies.com/ver2/pafiledb.php?action=file&id=1901 Dave

http://www.skydivingmovies.com/ver2/pafiledb.php?action=file&id=1901 Dave

http://www.skydivingmovies.com/ver2/pafiledb.php?action=file&id=1901 I'll edit the descriptions later... Dave

No but a few other files have, stealing a bunch of that space I was setting aside. I better find s'more just in case. BTW I'm not deleting anything permanently. Once the new drive is installed, I can put everything back. Dave

How big is it? I can make some room for it right now and enable uploads for ya... EDIT: Deleted a 122 meg video that had 55 downloads and a rating of 1 star. I think we can live without it for a little while.

Or upload it anonymously. Dave

http://www.skydivingmovies.com/ver2/pafiledb.php?action=file&id=1566 Dave

Don't remember it, but: http://www.tvacres.com/helicopters_screaming.htm. And I dunno what a turbine belt is, but thank goodness we don't use them anymore! Dave

Ok, here: http://www.skydiving.com/test/skydivinglocations/skydive_illinois.shtml... #4 on the map. Gimme a real challenge! Dave

I didn't like the way the Spectre landed. Openings were so slow they were almost scary to me. They really weren't THAT slow, it's just that I had been jumping an F111 canopy that didn't snivel at all. The Spectre is the opposite end of the spectrum, so I wasn't used to it. The landings on the spectre were not very different from the landings I was getting on my PD 9-cell, just a whole lot faster. I found it tricky to get the flare timing right, though I only put 17 jumps on it. I just found that I had to time the flare just right to get the vertical and horizontal speed minimized at the same time. The sabre2 has a very different flare. Much more powerful. I could get the vertical speed stopped first, then just keep flaring slowly to slow down the horizontal speed. I found the flare timing just wasnt' nearly as important. Sometimes I flare a little low, level off dragging my feet, and slow down until my weight settles onto my feet. Sometimes I flare a little higher, and just keep flaring until I basically come to a complete stop a foot off the ground and just kinda plop down softly. But other people tell me they LOVE how the spectre lands, so that's why ya gotta demo and see what you like. Dave

DEMO. After reading the flight characteristics documents at PD's website, I was ready to buy a spectre. Decided I better try one before buying, so I ordered a demo. I liked it quite a bit. Found a good deal on a used one from somebody that I knew, and almost went ahead and bought it. But then I just decided to try a Sabre2 in the same size (I had done a couple jumps on a bigger one before) before making my final decision. Only managed to put a couple jumps on the sabre2 before I had to send it back, but that was enough to convince me that I liked it a lot more than the Spectre. Sabre2s are very unpopular at my DZ and I get dirty looks from all the spectre owners (half the people on the DZ) whenever I say I didn't like it as much. There are plenty of other posts that compare the two canopies. But my point is that you might not know what you want until you try them both (and maybe a few others while you're at it). I'll play billvon and suggest trying a Pilot too. Dave